Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop has admitted that carriers have a problem with Skype and it has stopped Nokia from selling its Lumia Windows Phones to operators, according to Nokia blogger Tomi Ahonen. Elop told shareholders in a meeting that carriers have indeed blocked the Finns from offering devices on their networks because of Microsoft sealing a deal with Skype.

The carriers see the VoIP service as direct competitor to their offerings, as it allows free calls between users and extremely cheap international calling rates.

"If the operator doesn't want us, it doesn't want us. We will appeal to them with other arguments. We have more to offer to them. It is a good point to start the discussion from Skype,” Nokia’s Stephen Elop was quoted as saying by the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Additional sources point out that Elop explained at that very meeting that Microsoft and Nokia are trying to push a Lumia deal on carriers against their will by using different leverages like price discounts, marketing and sale gimmicks.

We don’t know the details of how Nokia, Microsoft and the carriers are tied in those talks, but what is clear is that the Finns are facing some opposition from operators despite Microsoft’s multiple claims that carriers are eager to help push a third ecosystem. The irony of it is that Skype has recently arrived on Windows Phone and it doesn’t even work in the background, so you can’t take calls while on standby.

Windows phones can help carriers reduce calls from customer having issues with their phones. Most of the customer that usually call customer service with an issue have an android phone, either the phone is too complicated for them or the phone is messing up.

Windows phones are very easy to use, are lag free and don't freez too often. So that should keep most of the customers happy without having to call customer service all the time.

Skype, Google Voice, Tango, Fring, and other VoIP programs and apps are widely available on multiple platforms. Carriers shouldn't worry so much about them, as they tend to be over WiFi. Heck, T-Mobile even has WiFi caling on a majority of their phones, which I think every company should offer

Stephen Elop why don't you just give up on the Windows Phone and just go back to the Old OS and improve it a lot. There are still lots of improvement in the Technical world unlike people who are hard headed.

Symbian has been left behind, the only OS that could help nokia boost their sales is Meego of n9. They can't give up WP, it's starting to popularize. Nokia is just catching up on what's already established that's why sales dropped down. Transition phase of major OS is a risk taken by nokia. But I assure you, after wp8 apollo comes out, it is a whole different story.

I hope it does with windows 8. But I would not be buying another Nokia phone if it have a windows base platform. I already seen both Meego and Windows and I still prefer the N9 because it is more of a friendly user interface and easy to get along. Maybe the old symbian with a user friendly text messaging and simple tweaks will do. Or maybe the new meltemi os will do to me or if they revive my N9 will do to me.

So what's the problem with WP? Its doesn't imitate ios? Not complicated enough? There is no going back. Symbian has already been pawned off and it would take $millions to reinvest. Not a good idea. Then there's the loss from MS's financial support. To go Android will also be a disaster because I cannot see google lend any helping hand. Then there more $millions lost in R&D to make itself differentiate from other Android oems. Nokia still has to compete with not just one or two Android oems but a slew of them. That's my take.

As someone who owned an N9 and used Meego, I can honestly say that the OS was good, but not great. Could Nokia have invested in it and made it amazing? Sure. But WP is an awesome OS that's very stable and runs way more efficiently than Meego. Despite having 1g of Ram and a 1ghz processor, the N9 would still lag with basic tasks. Great phone, great potential, but WP is the better OS in my opinion. I wouldn't say that Meego is burned, Elop just made a financially better decision sticking with WP. He can't push both at the same time.

14.thelegend6657 (unregistered)

This makes no sense to me though. Carriers like Verizon were hyping their exclusive deal with Skype for BlackBerry a couple years ago. It wasn't true "wifi" calling, but it allowed you to circumvent VZWs international charges or minute usage if you were calling another Skype user. Microsoft owning Skype will find the leverage they need I think. Carriers need to see that as freeing their overhead. When buying a smartphone, you have a plan that costs $50+/month, plus a mandatory data plan. If the user isn't using your network that only enhances your margin. It may drive prices down a little, but not as much as the margin increases. How do the carriers not see that?

Wow... This news again proved that the Tr0jan horse of M$ to N0kia can talk any bu11-sh!t.... Nokia is tooo mad to NOT knowing the intention of this tr0jan horse...

He killed symbian and Meego too... He never allowed N9 to be sold in all countries and wherever its sold, sold at HUGE price... He even told that NOKIA is NOT going to further develop Meego, even if N9 sold well...

He will even try his level best to block sale of Symbian-PureView by keeping its price high like in case of N9... And let us see what will be the price of WP-Pure-View in coming year...

Well, to push WP sales, he introduced Lumia900 for 99$ (thats the cheapest LTE smartphone), why NOT sell it at par with N9 price??? But it doesn't make share holders happy...

He is DESPERATE to sell more number of WP devices at any cost (or lack of it ;p ).. NOKIA can never improve if they didn't kick out that Tr0jan Horse from their castle...

Carriers are more afraid now then ever before of becoming dumb-pipes and having no control over anything. If Microsoft owns Skype, Microsoft is gonna want to maximize its' usage to make money. Skype is pre-installed on the phones and I think they're afraid that all Windows Phones will be able to communicate with each other via Skype, completely circumventing the carriers paid-services in the process. AT&T just released that info about them not liking iMessage and Skype-type services because it negates their business model. They are dumb-pipes and the quicker they stop throwing temper tantrums and just accept it, the better off we'll all be.

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